Diatom Hotspots Driven by Western Boundary Current Instability

Authors

Hilde Oliver
Weifeng G. Zhang
Walker O. Smith Jr., Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow
et al

Document Type

Article

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Publication Date

2021

Journal

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

48

Issue

11

First Page

e2020GL091943

Abstract

Climatic changes have decreased the stability of the Gulf Stream (GS), increasing the frequency at which its meanders interact with the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) continental shelf and slope region. These intrusions are thought to suppress biological productivity by transporting low-nutrient water to the otherwise productive shelf edge region. Here we present evidence of widespread, anomalously intense subsurface diatom hotspots in the MAB slope sea that likely resulted from a GS intrusion in July 2019. The hotspots (at ∼50 m) were associated with water mass properties characteristic of GS water (∼100 m); it is probable that the hotspots resulted from the upwelling of GS water during its transport into the slope sea, likely by a GS meander directly intruding onto the continental slope east of where the hotspots were observed. Further work is required to unravel how increasingly frequent direct GS intrusions could influence MAB marine ecosystems.

DOI

doi: 10.1029/2020GL091943

Publication Statement

© 2021. American Geophysical Union.

Recommended Citation

Oliver, Hilde; Zhang, Weifeng G.; Smith, Walker O. Jr.; and et al, Diatom Hotspots Driven by Western Boundary Current Instability (2021). Geophysical Research Letters, 48(11), e2020GL091943.

doi: 10.1029/2020GL091943